A Frank Talk

Goal setting makes me mad sometimes, as a coach. It’s beyond infuriating to watch a player with potential to absentmindedly swat at balls during practice, to take a weekend off right before a tournament. To not finish a sprint all the way to the line. It’s also infuriating to listen to big dreams and hopes to become a professional tennis player or a collegiate athlete and then see no determination to complete even the easiest of fitness routines. This isn’t to say that goal setting is bad, or that you should want to be a professional tennis player if you have the talent, or that you should not want to be a collegiate athlete. But from someone who knows what it takes to become a collegiate athlete and a professional tennis player, it is mind-boggling to hear a kid say I want to but then to not follow the advice of Nike and “Just do it.” 

Every coach at Seminole High Performance knows what it takes. It’s easy for me to say I’m probably the “tough love” coach. I’m not the sugar coating type, and I never will be, whether it’s on the court, in the classroom, or in my advising office. Are you meant to be a teacher? No, you aren’t. You are late to every class and are more focused on salary than actually teaching kiddos anything. Are you good enough to play division one tennis? Sure, if you put in at least 4 hours a day of tennis, not one. Are you ever going to be a professional tennis player? Definitely not. You don’t have the DRIVE to be one.

Do you see the trend here? I’m not talking talent. I wasn’t a talented player growing up. What I did have though is determination and work-ethic. I got a B instead of an A on a paper? Tell me what I can do better. I can’t seem to hit my overhead quite right? Let me hit a 100 more (not 10). You told me to go run for thirty minutes? I ran for forty. 

Goal setting is great, but it’s the follow through that is the most important aspect of goal setting. My dad (he’s a tennis coach, and brought me up as a tennis player as well as my brother, who is the bomb-diggity) sat down with me one day and told me that coaching is more than a business—it’s an investment in a child’s future. The worst thing you can do as a coach is to not be honest about what you and that player can accomplish together, and to not invest all of your energy, hope, and passion into every child you teach, reaching for the same goal they are reaching for. My success is your success. That’s why I think it’s funny to hear coaches from different academies talk to parents and their children and say “With my help your kid is going to be number one in the world/number one in Florida/number one in their high school. Just give me a year and X amount of dollars” Really? Apparently these coaches have a magic pill that I was never told about. The ironic part is when it comes down to the nitty-gritty, they are nowhere to be seen. When I (or any other SHP coach) talk goals with my players, I never promise anything. Instead, I say, what is it that you want to accomplish? Number one on your high school roster? How are YOU going to get there, and how can I HELP? I’m not ever going to be able to play a match for you. I don’t want you to become me. I want you to become YOU, a BETTER you, and I will share in your success of accomplishing what it is you want. Want to be a collegiate athlete? I’ll tell you what you need to do to accomplish that. If you’re slacking, I’m not going to say “Great shot, keep it up.” I’ll yell at you. I’ll make sure you never come to practice without a mindset to work again. Tough love—it’s because I actually care how you invest your time in this sport. It’s hard enough as a sport on its own; you don’t have to complicate it. 

A while ago I wrote about goal-setting. It’s important, I know. You can’t just be randomly floating around in tennis without at least an inkling of what you want out of it. So sit down with one of your SHP coaches, have a chat, discuss these things. We’ll tell you how to get there, and more importantly, we’ll stand by your side while you do it.    

It's supposed to be fun, right?

As a teacher, I am always trying to find something that inspires me for class. I stumbled upon this quote yesterday, and rather than thinking about my classroom, my thoughts instantly streamlined into tennis, and life in general (I know, super philosophical). 

“Promise me that you will not spend so much time treading water and trying to keep your head above the waves that you forget, truly forget, how much you really love to swim.”

I thought back to my playing days, when I was so tired of tennis, so tired of losing, so tired of sore muscles and arguments with myself that ended in teary eyes. Then I thought about players now. Sometimes it feels like your fight is your own fight and you have no one that understands you, and really gets your frustration, your love hate relationship with this game.  I disagree, because I guarantee that every coach at Seminole High Performance has once felt what you have felt as a player, and understands the quote above, how sometimes it gets so hard that we forget that tennis, is, in fact, a game, and it is supposed to be fun. I know, huge revelation, right? So when you are about to bang your racquet, give up on trying, or are frustrated to the point of tears, remember how much you really love the game. 

It’s true for every aspect of life—I wrote a blog about equilibrium a little while ago and how everything needs balance. There is such thing as drinking too many vitamins, having too much fun, working too hard. Sometimes it takes a day off from tennis to understand the game better, to rest your head and your muscles enough to get back to the court the following day a little more clearheaded rather than so clouded with frustration that focusing on anything at all. 

So don’t forget your roots—why you started this game, what you love about it, and what will always be a part of your life. Because if you are competitive as a junior player, you know that tennis is more than a hobby—it is an essential part of your life, but even that essential part of your life is supposed to be fun.     

The Watch This Phenomenon

          I call it the “Watch this” phenomenon. Anytime one of my players says “Hey coach, what this!” I know that a.) I will get hit, b.) They will hurt themselves c.) They’ll hurt someone else, or d.) they will look stupid. And that’s putting it lightly. Typically the “Watch this” phenomenon doesn’t have to do a lot with tennis but rather with things that involve the racquet, the ball, and/or the cart. Typical “Watch this” moments include trying to hit the ball through/over/on top of an inanimate object (which, of course, begs the question—why?), trying to do something “fancy” like bounce the ball against the frame of the racquet, or hitting the ball against the fence, only to mishit the ball, hit it against the pole that holds the fence up, and narrowly missing death with the ball grazing the hair on the top of the head. Ah, never a dull moment. 

But the “Watch this” phenomenon trickles into tennis as well sometimes. I see it most at the net. A player will set up the point well, hit a great approach shot, get the soft, high volley that they want to easily put away, only to try and hack at the ball in a way that it bounces “all fancy” or drops just below the net, of course missing their valiant attempt at what I call an “ESPN shot,” which I may or may not have borrowed from my college coach Jen Hyde. 

              

  Once in a while I see an ambitious player try and hit a drop shot off of a ball they clearly should have simply tried to hit through. Once in a while I see same said ambitious player try and hit a tweener (through the legs) during a tournament match. Once in a while I see the sneaky attempts of an off pace shot when one is simply not necessary. Tennis, even though we can make it super complex with our talk of fitness, technique, nutrition, mental game— is a simple sport. The concept is even easier—get the ball in the court more than your opponent. When you have a simple put away volley, shot, or approach shot, just put it away. There is no need for the “Watch this” phenomenon, whether it be on the court playing or on the court thinking of something to do that warrants a “don’t be stupid” teacher look. 

                Putting away high volleys is the toughest part, I think, of shot making. The biggest element to this shot is to avoid the “Watch this” that may take over. Don’t swig, but rather, add a little bit more of a decisive push forward with your feet, and add a little bit more angle down to the volley to get it in, without flipping your racquet head over.   

Seminole HP is stepping it up!

We’re pretty awesome here at Seminole High Performance. Over the years of the SHP tradition, we have developed ambitious young tennis players into the current Tallahassee tennis superstars, and we continue to work hard and motivate our students to excel in the sport through multiple different avenues. We’ve recently reconvened with our coaching staff to assess our successes and what we need to continue to build on to make our program the continuing stand-out tennis training program in not just Tallahassee alone, but in North Florida in general. 

Our major focus, is, of course, the kiddos. We want to motivate our players to be the best they can be, and to do that, we need to focus on inspiration, practices that instill integrity and discipline, and the incorporation of team elements. Creating a team out of SHP is essential to our success—in order to do this, we will begin incorporating team-building both during clinics as well as incorporating outside events such as Seminole High Performance socials, where you can get to know the players that go to SHP as well as the coaching team. Not part of SHP yet but want to be? This is a great event to attend in order to meet and greet current players and coaches at SHP. 

In addition to socials, we will also be sending a tournament coaching team to specific tournaments at least once a month starting in March 2014. This will instill Seminole pride in our players and will allow the advantage of having a passionate and knowledgeable coach at the tournament sites. This is a great way of introducing your SHP players to tournament competition—all of our coaches have been prior players and know how to professionally deal with factors that affect all players at tournaments, including match prep, nervousness, third set feedback, and match reflection. All coaches that travel to tournaments will set up dinners with all SHP parents and players, incorporating a friendly and team-building environment at the tournament level. To find out more about tournament travel, please don’t hesitate to call or ask to be place on the SHP mailing list via seminolehptennis@gmail.com or http://www.seminoletenniscamps.com/.

If you have any feedback for us or any kind of evaluation of how we can serve you better, whether you are a parent, student, or potential client, please do not hesitate to email seminolehptennis@gmail.com or leave a comment below!

In Seminole spirit, go noles!!

The Fantastical Brain (And what it has to do with tennis)

The brain. It’s a weird thing, really. It’s what’s allowing me to write this article. It’s what’s allowing me to think about this article while I’m writing it, and think what the article would be about in the first place before I even opened my word document on the computer. It’s what’s allowing me to breathe and regulate my body’s activities without me consciously thinking about it, like my blood circulating and my fingers sensing the keypads underneath my fingertips.

Funny thing, it is, the brain. I learn about it often in my own studies, and it has always been an object of fascination for me. How is it that we learn? How is it that I can hit a tennis ball without thinking, instead focusing on how the other person is hitting the ball so that I can coach them? How is it that while I’m thinking about instructing kids on moving their feet, my lungs and my heart and my body temperature is regulated by this gray, electric blob in my skull, as if to say “I got you, no worries.” I can write a whole book on what fascinates me, and I can write a whole book for you to read and understand how the brain functions. What interests me that may interest you, however, is what happens when you are learning as a tennis player.

Let’s start with a bit of background—some basic biology and other b words to continue my rant with fine-tuned alliteration. Your gooey, gray brain is made up of matter—it’s this stuff that is covered in goo that allows for electronic signals to fire. That’s right, your brain is so fantastical that it even is electric! Nerve cells are your brains chess pieces, while the brain is the board. They, for lack of a better metaphor, bounce around together and send each other electronic pulses through something called the axon and the myelin sheath, a little tail and it’s covering goo that is attached to the actual nerve cell. Unlike other cells that die off and quickly replenish in your body, like blood cells, nerve cells typically do not regenerate. Hence, after losing nerve cells during a stroke (lack of oxygen to the brain that starves off cells), the issues with certain functions, like language and balance. You have the most amount of nerve cells when you are 3 years old. As you grow older, these nerve cells die off, but become smarter due to practice. For example, if you learn multiple languages as an infant, because you have a lot of new, green, and ready to go nerve cells, you learn that language quickly and develop strong “firing” in your language center. Essentially, the ol’ “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks” has a neurological explanation—while your older brain has “smarter” nerve cells that can fire language signals in different ways, like with added vocabulary, it needs more and more practice to develop new language skills that have, in essence, died off when you are young because you never utilized them (in other words, if you don’t learn the language, those nerve cells die off).

But, the cool thing about older brains is that our nerve cells are a little more chill. They don’t fire when they’ve encountered a stimulus (a fancy way of saying something that provokes us) that they’ve experienced before. They don’t send the “Oh crap” fight or flight reflex and instinct when provoked as much—hence why an angry teenager yelling at a line judge is said to be immature. If it were an adult, that instinct to “fight” and that electronic fire between nerve cells that say “Hey let’s get angry” simmer down, and don’t fire as much.

In fact, there are some instincts and thoughts that aren’t fully developed in teens yet. For example, the “I probably shouldn’t do that” instinct isn’t fully developed yet—teenagers learn more from experience actually getting hurt than from the wariness to certain situations. Essentially, this means that teens on the court will remember to stretch after practice if they have ever pulled a muscle—they are less likely to stretch if they are simply told to do so to avoid stretching said muscle.

In addition to the developing nerve cells, teens are also still developing in their cerebellum, a part of the brain that controls balance and movement—hence the clumsiness of a developing adolescent. The cerebellum is in the back of you head in your brain, and it’s a pretty awesome place because it explains why tennis is good for you in the first place (or any sport or exercise, for that matter). Remember how I said nerve cells die off without practice? The cerebellum doesn’t die off without practice, but with practice it develops quicker. If a 12 year old engages in sports, they are training their cerebellum, and hence more likely to develop balance and more coordinated movement as they grow up. The awesome thing about tennis is that it is a mental and physical sport, a part of the cerebellum that is often left untrained—not only do you have to visually assess the ball, which triggers different parts of your brain, but these nerve cells that fire the visual recognition of the ball have to fire back to the cerebellum to signal “Hey let’s get moving to that ball.” Nerve cells that are chilling in your cerebellum then shoot a signal down your spinal cord through nearby nerve cells down to your muscles, making them move. Did I mention this is all happening within 2 seconds? A firing nerve cells takes about half a second to transmit different signals. If you didn’t know to move to the ball when your brain transmits the visual signal that you see the ball, this process slows down—hence younger kids and how they sometimes move clumsily to the ball, or do not see to register that they need to move to the ball at all until there is a verbal cue (i.e. a sharp yell “Move!” from the coach). The more you practice, the quicker this signal becomes. Moving to the ball then becomes a reflex rather than a registered and conscious decision.      

Okay, so now lets talk about learning. It’s pretty cool, actually (maybe my fellow nerds will agree). See, there is a part of the brain called the frontal lobe. It is one fourth of the major lobes in your brain. As it’s name suggests, it is located in the front of the brain, and is also your major learning center. This is where short term memory is processed, and makes its way to long-term memory. This is also where emotions are processed, as well as decision-making, thought processing, and all the cool conscious things we do with our brains. As I’ve mentioned before, there are nerve cells here too. They fire signals to this part of the brain that then signal processing, from thoughts like “Hit the ball with spin” to emotions like “I’m terrible at this game.” Without practice, this part of the brain doesn’t fire signals in an easy connection with the cerebellum—this isn’t because they aren’t as close to each other as other parts of the brain, but rather because the nerve cells still need GPS directions to the movement part of the brain (cerebellum) from the frontal lobe. Just like you travel the same road to and from the courts, after a while knowing these roads well, the same way your nerve cells travel to each other, just, well, much faster. They still need practice though to develop the comfort of traveling without those “directions,” if you will. With practice, this part of the brain develops tennis awareness, where as you hit the shot thoughts are run through your frontal lobe, typically adjusting the shot. What is unique about the tennis swing though is that the visual part of your brain typically can’t do much—it’s can’t see your swing. Because you cannot see yourself swing outside of yourself, video can help with this, as well as a coach that you trust.

There is lots more that I can write about—I’m already at three pages in length and have just begun talking about the brain and learning in tennis. Hopefully you take away from this blog the fascination that I have with the brain, as well as the essential moral of the story here—to be decent in tennis, you have to practice and train those nerve cells of yours.